Westmoreland County reports 72 new coronavirus cases, 1 death

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported 72 new cases of coronavirus in Westmoreland County.

Saturday’s addition puts the seven-day average at 80 cases; the county reported 64 cases on Friday.

One additional death was reported, increasing the death toll to 81.

This has been the deadliest reporting week for the county after logging 12 new deaths since Sunday, including three on Tuesday and two each day from Wednesday to Friday.

Last week, the county reported seven deaths.

To put the recent uptick in perspective, Westmoreland County reported three deaths for the entire month of August.

The county’s total cases are now 3,972.

The recent positives come from a batch of 439 tests, yielding a positivity rate of 16.4%.

The county has averaged about 413 tests per day this week.

With eight days left in October, the county has seen only three days with less than 40 cases this month. There were 22 cases reported on Oct. 1 and 39 cases reported on both Oct. 6 and Oct. 7.

Prior to that, the case total hadn’t exceeded that amount since April 25.

Through September, Westmoreland County had reported more than 25 new cases only twice, on Sept. 23 and Sept. 25, when it reported 39 and 34 new cases, respectively.